Freeview Australia - Freeview FV

Name of Organization / Company: Freeview Australia, Mosman, Australia

Category: Award for Innovation in Entertainment Apps

Entry Title: Freeview FV - One click live TV on the go

Entry:

Freeview FV aggregates all available free to air television content and delivers an out of home television experience to consumers with access to live television channels and catch up (on demand) programs from a single mobile application.

In 2015, mobile free to air live streaming in Australia was in its infancy stage and broadly limited to a news service and major sporting events. Whilst there was broad commitment to launch an aggregated live streaming mobile service, the level of digital content rights varied by broadcaster and live streaming experience was limited. Freeview developed bespoke solutions to handle unavailable content by providing alternative programing and messaging within the application as well as individual login requirements for two broadcasters for consumers to access their on demand content.

With Airplay support already included and Chromecast support on the roadmap, consumers without access to an aerial now have an option available to watch live television on their inhome TV. This has significantly changed the television viewing experience by providing consumers with a simple option to access all free live and catch up (on demand) content on the go.

The application contains the following easy to use features:

- Access to all live television streams with one click from the home screen (Image 01).
- Direct access to all broadcaster’s catch up (on demand) content through dedicated program pages via deep links into individual broadcaster’s applications. (Each broadcaster maintains their own unique library of content.)
- Interactive TV guide which allows access to all scheduled programs to watch live, set a reminder and add as a favourite (Image 02)
- A program page accessible by selecting a program on any screen. On the program page the user can select live, previous or future episodes and find recommendations (‘More like this’) based on the same genre (Image 03).
- Featured which provides curated recommendations for live programs and catch up (on demand) (Image 04).
- Easily accessible menu which takes the user to live TV, their favourite programs, reminders, TV guide, search and settings (Image 05).
- Program title search and genre search accessible from any screen. Genre search results are ordered by next available program (Image 06).
- Settings which allows the user to manage video quality, parental controls and access FAQ’s and help (Image 07).

The Freeview team worked collaboratively with the Australian free-to-air broadcasters to create the FV product and aggregate their individual content libraries into one place. FreeviewFV also provided the platform for one broadcaster to launch live streaming for the first time and remains the only place to find that broadcasters live streams.

Freeview FV was designed for a digital environment and incorporates two primary colours from the Freeview FV logo being a UI grey and bright, contemporary digital green. The interface design is sharp and uses key art imagery throughout to connect the user with content. Intuitive navigation allows users to find content easily with minimum clicks.

It was launched on 6th November on iOS phone and tablet and Android phone, with commitment to roll out Android tablet and deliver Chromecast integration in a release within 6 months of launch. Freeview FV is available for free from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

The launch was extremely successful with the first month target smashed in the first week by 20%. It achieved no.1 ranking in the iTunes Entertainment category with many fantastic reviews (Image 08). The launch was supported by a TV campaign aired across all broadcasters, transit advertising on busses and trains (Image 09) and a dedicated digital and social campaign.

Freeview FV is a world first industry collaboration, bringing together access to all live and catch up free to air television in one application.